New truck models often bring new powerplants. The 5th generation Ram Trucks hitting the roads in 2019 had most of the diesel motorsports community wondering just how much power can be pushed through their new carbon graphite iron block. This new “CGI” block offers a stronger material with a more lightweight and updated engine design. We have already seen a few trucks out there making around 1,000-horsepower with it and one with one over 1,200-horsepower so the future looks promising.

A few of these engines have now been acquired for racing-only applications including Daniel Green’s 1995 race truck.  The truck’s previous engine was a 12-valve Cummins engine making some serious numbers. Unfortunately, Daniel had experienced several issues with the truck which included melted pistons from an extended burnout.

Therefore, a new power plant was required. What better engine to test out than the CGI block.  Some selling features of this block are its higher quality material that makes the cylinder walls stronger without needing sleeves for reenforcement. This would mean less cost in overall machine work because, in theory, the block should be stronger to higher power levels without experiencing failures. Another added feature in stock applications is the connecting rods are now longer which corrects the harsh rod angle the previous 6.7 generation suffered from.

For racing purposes, Green opted to convert his 2020 CGI block away from the factory hydraulic lifters, and back to the traditional solid tappet lifter which is a more proven design.  Early CGI engines have seen failures of the lifter system possibly being caused by an incorrect oil viscosity being used. Nonetheless, this was a chance Green wasn’t willing to take.

Green’s new hotrod engine is also outfitted with a new rod design from Wagler Competition Products.  The CGI block sports a longer rod with a piston that is shorter and uses a smaller wrist pin. This allows for a change in rod angle which was a key killing feature of the previous generation of 6.7 engines.

With all of the internals of this 2020 engine covered, it’s time to bolt some air on and throw some fuel at it and see just how much it will make.  The truck is running a single s485 turbo with a 96mm turbine wheel, backed by a 1.32A/R turbine housing. This engine was also converted back to a cp3 sporting an Exergy Performance 14mm race pump and their 400-percent over injectors.

Once the truck got on the dyno and was making some calibration runs it was evident there was a transmission issue.  Issues with the torque converter being incorrectly machined meant that the lockup clutch wasn’t applying correctly so the transmission had to be removed. The crew at Firepunk was able to get a new converter for the trans and checked the valve body in the meantime to make sure everything was up to snuff.

This particular engine was harvested from a burnt truck.

After making several dyno pulls playing around with load, max injection rate, and the timing tables, Daniel’s truck was able to lay down a whopping 1,330-horsepower at 1200us (microseconds).  After turning the injection duration up to 1300us, they lost power at 1,311-horsepower meaning that the s485 turbo wasn’t able to supply any more air for the given fuel quantity. This means it’s time for nitrous!

With a single kit of nitrous on a .132 jet, the CGI block was able to spit out a whopping 1,641-horsepower making it the highest power CGI block to date.  However, this truck is light and is set up for 5.90 index class so its regular power output will be around 1000-1100 horsepower so it will be able to live a long healthy life.

We look forward to seeing Daniel making passes with his newly reimagined hotrod containing tons of common rail power this season. For further coverage of all things diesel, make sure to stay tuned to Diesel Army.